Technical Field
The present application relates to electronic chips, particularly to electronic chips protected against attacks.
Description of the Related Art
Electronic chips containing confidential data, such as bank card chips, may undergo attacks from hackers aiming at determining the operation of the chip and at extracting the confidential information therefrom. An attack may be carried out on the chip in operation connected between the terminals of a power source. A way to carry out such an attack is for a hacker to scan the chip surface with a pulsed laser beam which disturbs the chip operation. The observation of the consequences of such disturbances, sometimes called faults, enables the hacker to carry out the attack. To disturb the chip operation, the hacker may also form contacts on the chip surface and apply voltages thereto. The hacker may also arrange a coil close to the chip surface to emit electromagnetic disturbances.
It is desirable to have electronic chips protected against this type of attack, called fault injection attack, known devices having various disadvantages and implementation issues.